Is American Express Membership Rewards worth using?
Collect it if
- You book long-haul business and first class and want the widest set of programs to price it in.
- You will actually wait for a transfer bonus instead of moving points the day you earn them.
- You want a partner list deep enough that a single program devaluing does not strand you.
Look elsewhere if
- You mostly redeem for hotels — the hotel partners here are among the weakest currencies we publish.
- You would default to Pay With Points at checkout, which redeems close to the floor.
What is one American Express Membership Rewards point worth?
Short answer
1.8¢ in the Award Rate Q3 2026 model, the median of 19,340 sampled redemptions priced against the cash cost of the same booking on the same date. Half of those redemptions returned less than that figure. It ranks 3 of 5 among the bank currencies we value, where the category median is 1.8¢.
How the number is derived
The published Award Rate figure for Membership Rewards, the median of 19,340 sampled redemptions. ANA, Flying Blue Promo Rewards and the near-constant 20–40% transfer bonuses lift it; Delta transfers and the 1¢ Pay With Points floor drag it back. The bonuses are modeled at the frequency they actually run, not at their headline size.
American Express Membership Rewards’s pricing mechanism
How does American Express Membership Rewards price an award?
What it means in practice
No award chart — priced through partners. There is no award chart here, because there are no awards here. A bank currency buys nothing directly; it becomes a partner’s currency and then prices at whatever that partner charges. So its value is not one mechanism but a weighted blend of every partner’s — plus the fixed-value floor the bank will always take the points back at, which is where a large share of real redemptions actually happen.
Read the pricing mechanism before the valuation, not after it. The valuation is a consequence of the mechanism rather than an independent fact about the program: a currency priced off the cash fare cannot beat the cash fare by much, however well you redeem, and a currency governed by a published table holds its value until the table changes.
How to earn American Express Membership Rewards points
American Express Membership Rewards is earned on credit card spend and nowhere else, which is the defining feature of a transferable currency: no flying and no stays are required to build a balance. Points from several cards in the same family generally pool into one account, so a no-annual-fee card can feed a balance that only becomes transferable through a premium one.
Cards that build a American Express Membership Rewards balance
These earn American Express Membership Rewards directly. Full terms for each are linked at the foot of this page.
- Welcome bonus
- 100,000 / $8K in 6 mo
- Annual fee
- $325
We are not compensated for this card. It is here because it earned its place.
Terms Apply$325 annual fee · 19.49% – 28.49% variable APR
See full rates & feesHide rates & fees
- Annual fee
- $325
- Purchase APR
- 19.49% – 28.49% variable
- Foreign transaction fee
- None
- Cash advance APR
- 28.74% variable
- Cash advance fee
- Either $10 or 5% of the amount of each cash advance, whichever is greater.
- Penalty APR
- Up to 29.99%. May apply if you do not pay at least the minimum payment due by the payment due date, or a payment is returned. Once applied it lasts at least six months.
- Late payment fee
- Up to $40
- Returned payment fee
- Up to $40
- Authorized user fee
- $35 per card
Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select benefits. Visit americanexpress.com to view rates and fees.
Rates and fees reconciled against American Express’s published pricing and terms on . Issuers may change offers, rates and terms at any time without notice; confirm current terms on the issuer’s own page before you apply. American Express rates & terms · American Express card page
Elevated — up from 175,000
The Platinum Card® from American Express
American Express · American Express
- Welcome bonus
- 175,000 / $12K in 6 mo
- Annual fee
- $895
We are not compensated for this card. It is here because it earned its place.
Terms Apply$895 annual fee · 19.49% – 28.49% variable APR
See full rates & feesHide rates & fees
- Annual fee
- $895
- Purchase APR
- 19.49% – 28.49% variable
- Foreign transaction fee
- None
- Cash advance APR
- 28.74% variable
- Cash advance fee
- Either $10 or 5% of the amount of each cash advance, whichever is greater.
- Penalty APR
- Up to 29.99%. May apply if you do not pay at least the minimum payment due by the payment due date, or a payment is returned. Once applied it lasts at least six months.
- Late payment fee
- Up to $40
- Returned payment fee
- Up to $40
- Authorized user fee
- $195 per card
Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select benefits. Visit americanexpress.com to view rates and fees.
Rates and fees reconciled against American Express’s published pricing and terms on . Issuers may change offers, rates and terms at any time without notice; confirm current terms on the issuer’s own page before you apply. American Express rates & terms · American Express card page
American Express Membership Rewards transfer partners
All 21 partners American Express Membership Rewards publishes — including the ones we tell readers not to use, because a partner list with its bad entries removed cannot be used to make a decision. Ranked by what one point is worth after the transfer rather than by the ratio, which is the only ordering that answers the question you are asking.
| Transfer timeTypical, not guaranteed | Sweet spot — what to actually book | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ANA Mileage Club | 1:1 | 2–3 days | 1.6¢Loses value−0.20¢ vs. keeping the points as American Express Membership Rewards | ANA’s own round-trip business class between the US and Japan, priced off a fixed seasonal chart that remains one of the cheapest premium-cabin redemptions in the world. Amex is the only bank currency that reaches ANA Mileage Club directly.Transfer bonuses: ANA has never been bonused and never will be — Amex excludes it from every promotion. Budget three days for the transfer; ANA is the slowest partner on the list. |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | 1:1 | Instant to 24 hours | 1.5¢Loses value−0.30¢ vs. keeping the points as American Express Membership Rewards | Star Alliance business class to Europe off Aeroplan’s published distance table, with a 5,000-point stopover attached to a one-way.Transfer bonuses: Bonused every year or two at 20–30%; less frequent than the European partners. |
| Avianca LifeMiles | 1:1 | Instant to 24 hours | 1.4¢Loses value−0.40¢ vs. keeping the points as American Express Membership Rewards | Lufthansa and Swiss business class to Europe with no carrier surcharges — LifeMiles is the only Star Alliance program that does not pass them through, so the award settles for under $100 in cash.Transfer bonuses: One of the most frequently bonused partners: 15–40% bonuses run several times a year. |
| Qatar Airways Privilege Club | 1:1 | Instant to 24 hours | 1.4¢Loses value−0.40¢ vs. keeping the points as American Express Membership Rewards | Qsuite business class from the US to Doha and onward into South Asia or Africa, priced in Avios off a fixed table — the best business-class hard product in the world at a knowable price.Transfer bonuses: Bonused occasionally at 20–30% since Qatar joined the Avios family. |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | 1:1 | 12–48 hours | 1.4¢Loses value−0.40¢ vs. keeping the points as American Express Membership Rewards | Saver awards in Singapore Suites and long-haul business class, which Singapore releases to KrisFlyer members and effectively no one else.Transfer bonuses: Rare. Remember that KrisFlyer miles hard-expire three years from the date they are earned, so do not transfer speculatively. |
| Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | 1:1 | Instant | 1.4¢Loses value−0.40¢ vs. keeping the points as American Express Membership Rewards | ANA round-trip business and first class between the US and Japan — cheaper in Virgin Points than in ANA’s own miles on many dates, and Virgin transfers instantly where ANA takes three days.Transfer bonuses: Bonused regularly at 20–30%, several times a year. |
| British Airways Executive Club | 1:1 | Instant | 1.35¢Loses value−0.45¢ vs. keeping the points as American Express Membership Rewards | Short-haul distance-band awards on American and Alaska, where a sub-650-mile segment costs a small fixed number of Avios.Transfer bonuses: Bonused at 30–40% roughly twice a year, usually alongside Iberia and Aer Lingus. |
| Iberia Plus | 1:1 | Instant to 24 hours | 1.35¢Loses value−0.45¢ vs. keeping the points as American Express Membership Rewards | Off-peak Madrid–US business class on Iberia metal, which prices below British Airways for the same crossing and carries a fraction of the surcharge.Transfer bonuses: Bonused alongside British Airways and Aer Lingus, typically 30–40%. |
| Aer Lingus AerClub | 1:1 | Instant | 1.3¢Loses value−0.50¢ vs. keeping the points as American Express Membership Rewards | Off-peak Dublin–US business class, the cheapest transatlantic business Avios redemption with genuinely modest surcharges.Transfer bonuses: Bonused with the other Avios programs at 30–40%. |
| Air France-KLM Flying Blue | 1:1 | Instant to 24 hours | 1.3¢Loses value−0.50¢ vs. keeping the points as American Express Membership Rewards | The monthly Promo Rewards list, which discounts selected Air France and KLM business-class routes by 25–50%. Stack a Promo Reward with an Amex transfer bonus and the effective cost drops by more than half.Transfer bonuses: The most frequently bonused Amex partner. A 20–30% Flying Blue bonus runs multiple times a year, often for a full month. |
| Cathay Pacific Asia Miles | 1:1 | Instant to 24 hours | 1.3¢Loses value−0.50¢ vs. keeping the points as American Express Membership Rewards | Cathay’s own business class to Hong Kong, priced off a distance table, with the airline releasing space to its own members that oneworld partners never see.Transfer bonuses: Occasional, typically 20–25%. |
| Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles | 1:1 | Instant to 48 hours | 1.3¢Loses value−0.50¢ vs. keeping the points as American Express Membership Rewards | HawaiianMiles convert into Alaska Mileage Plan, which makes this the only indirect route from Membership Rewards into a program with published partner award bands and a free one-way stopover. Confirm the conversion terms before transferring — this pathway has changed twice since the Alaska–Hawaiian merger.Transfer bonuses: Rarely bonused. Amex charges its excise-tax offset fee on transfers to Hawaiian, as it does for all US carriers. |
| Qantas Frequent Flyer | 1:1 | 24–48 hours | 1.3¢Loses value−0.50¢ vs. keeping the points as American Express Membership Rewards | Qantas business class across the Pacific and Qantas’ own oneworld partner awards, which price off a published distance table.Transfer bonuses: Bonused roughly annually at 20–30%. |
| JetBlue TrueBlue | 250:200 (an effective 1.25:1 penalty)fewer points out than in | Instant | 1.04¢Loses value−0.76¢ vs. keeping the points as American Express Membership Rewards | Nothing that justifies the ratio. A 20% haircut into a revenue-based currency valued below Membership Rewards is a losing transfer on every route we have priced.Transfer bonuses: Occasionally bonused, which merely restores the ratio to something close to parity. |
| Delta SkyMiles | 1:1 | Instant | 1.2¢Loses value−0.60¢ vs. keeping the points as American Express Membership Rewards | Occasional Delta flash sales on transatlantic economy, and Delta-operated seats during periods when the fare-linked price happens to dip. Outside those windows, a Membership Rewards point is worth more almost anywhere else.Transfer bonuses: Effectively never bonused. Amex also charges an excise-tax offset fee on Delta transfers, so the true cost is above 1:1. |
| Etihad Guest | 1:1 | Instant to 24 hours | 1.2¢Loses value−0.60¢ vs. keeping the points as American Express Membership Rewards | Etihad business class between the US and Abu Dhabi, and Etihad’s own regional awards within the Gulf and South Asia at fixed prices.Transfer bonuses: Bonused a few times a year at 20–30%. |
| Aeroméxico Club Premier | 1:1.6 (1,000 points become 1,600 Premier Points)more points out than in | Instant to 24 hours | 1.76¢About even−0.04¢ vs. keeping the points as American Express Membership Rewards | Delta-operated flights between the US and Mexico or within the US, priced in Premier Points. The 1.6x ratio does most of the work here — it is the only above-parity airline ratio on the Amex list.Transfer bonuses: Bonused occasionally, which pushes an already favorable ratio further. |
| Emirates Skywards | 1:1 | Instant to 24 hours | 1.1¢Loses value−0.70¢ vs. keeping the points as American Express Membership Rewards | Emirates first class on routes originating in Asia, where surcharges are far lower than on US or European departures.Transfer bonuses: Bonused occasionally at 20–30%. |
| Marriott Bonvoy | 1:1 | 24–48 hours | 0.7¢Loses value−1.10¢ vs. keeping the points as American Express Membership Rewards | None worth naming at 1:1 — a 1.8¢ point becoming a 0.7¢ point. Use it only to top up a Bonvoy balance you are short on for a specific booking.Transfer bonuses: Occasionally bonused at 20–30%; even then the conversion loses value. |
| Choice Privileges | 1:1 | Instant to 24 hours | 0.6¢Loses value−1.20¢ vs. keeping the points as American Express Membership Rewards | Nothing at 1:1. Citi and Capital One both transfer to Choice at 1:2, which is the ratio that makes Choice interesting — Amex’s does not.Transfer bonuses: Rarely bonused. |
| Hilton Honors | 1:2 (1,000 points become 2,000 Hilton points)more points out than in | Instant to 24 hours | 1.0¢Loses value−0.80¢ vs. keeping the points as American Express Membership Rewards | A five-night stay at a Waldorf Astoria or Conrad where the fifth night is free and the cash rate has spiked — the 1:2 ratio plus the night-free benefit is the only combination that gets this transfer above parity.Transfer bonuses: Bonused several times a year, sometimes at 100%, which briefly turns the ratio into 1:4 and makes it one of the better uses of Membership Rewards. |
Transfers are one-way and permanent. No bank has ever reversed one. Confirm the ratio on American Express Membership Rewards’s own transfer page and find award space in the partner’s program before you move a single point — a transfer made against space that turns out not to exist cannot be undone. Points do not expire while you hold at least one open Membership Rewards-earning card in good standing. Closing every such card forfeits the balance, so transfer out before you cancel your last eligible card. Amex may also forfeit points on an account that is significantly past due or closed for cause, and points cannot be transferred to another person’s Membership Rewards account.
The redemptions that make American Express Membership Rewards worth collecting
A currency is worth collecting because of specific redemptions, not because of an average. These are the ones that justify American Express Membership Rewards, ranked by what one transferred point is worth when it lands.
American Express Membership Rewards Aeroméxico Club Premier
Delta-operated flights between the US and Mexico or within the US, priced in Premier Points. The 1.6x ratio does most of the work here — it is the only above-parity airline ratio on the Amex list.
American Express Membership Rewards ANA Mileage Club
ANA’s own round-trip business class between the US and Japan, priced off a fixed seasonal chart that remains one of the cheapest premium-cabin redemptions in the world. Amex is the only bank currency that reaches ANA Mileage Club directly.
American Express Membership Rewards Air Canada Aeroplan
Star Alliance business class to Europe off Aeroplan’s published distance table, with a 5,000-point stopover attached to a one-way.
American Express Membership Rewards Avianca LifeMiles
Lufthansa and Swiss business class to Europe with no carrier surcharges — LifeMiles is the only Star Alliance program that does not pass them through, so the award settles for under $100 in cash.
American Express Membership Rewards Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
ANA round-trip business and first class between the US and Japan — cheaper in Virgin Points than in ANA’s own miles on many dates, and Virgin transfers instantly where ANA takes three days.
American Express Membership Rewards Qatar Airways Privilege Club
Qsuite business class from the US to Doha and onward into South Asia or Africa, priced in Avios off a fixed table — the best business-class hard product in the world at a knowable price.
American Express Membership Rewards Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
Saver awards in Singapore Suites and long-haul business class, which Singapore releases to KrisFlyer members and effectively no one else.
American Express Membership Rewards British Airways Executive Club
Short-haul distance-band awards on American and Alaska, where a sub-650-mile segment costs a small fixed number of Avios.
What American Express Membership Rewards does well, and what it does badly
The weaknesses below are the reason the strengths are worth believing. Every one of them is something we have watched cost a reader money or a booking.
What American Express Membership Rewards does well
- The widest transfer network of any US bank currency — twenty-one partners spanning all three alliances plus unaligned carriers — which means there is almost always a program that prices your route off a chart rather than off the fare.
- ANA Mileage Club is reachable from Membership Rewards and from nowhere else, and ANA’s round-trip business chart to Japan remains one of the best premium-cabin values in existence.
- Transfer bonuses run almost continuously. Some partner is discounted most months, typically 15–40%, and stacking a bonus with a Flying Blue Promo Reward is the cheapest business-class seat in the transferable-points world.
- Hilton at 1:2, bonused to 1:4 several times a year, turns Membership Rewards into a genuinely strong hotel currency despite Hilton’s low per-point value.
- Most transfers are instant, and Amex lets you transfer in single-point increments to most partners rather than blocks of 1,000.
What American Express Membership Rewards does badly
- Amex charges an excise-tax offset fee on transfers to US-based carriers — Delta, Hawaiian and JetBlue — assessed per point and capped per transfer. It is small but it is real, and it is the only bank currency that does this.
- Several partners should be treated as non-partners: Delta and Marriott at 1:1, JetBlue at 250:200, and Choice at 1:1 all convert a 1.8¢ point into something worth less.
- The Pay With Points floor is 1¢ for airfare booked through Amex Travel and lower for other travel — the weakest cash backstop of the major bank currencies.
- ANA takes up to three days to receive a transfer and has no online partner award search worth using, so the program’s best redemption requires committing points before you can confirm the ticket.
- Amex’s once-per-lifetime welcome bonus language means that once you have held the major Membership Rewards cards, rebuilding a large balance is slow and depends entirely on ongoing spend.
Do American Express Membership Rewards points expire?
Policy in full
Points do not expire while you hold at least one open Membership Rewards-earning card in good standing. Closing every such card forfeits the balance, so transfer out before you cancel your last eligible card. Amex may also forfeit points on an account that is significantly past due or closed for cause, and points cannot be transferred to another person’s Membership Rewards account.
Expiration policy is the fact most worth checking before you build a balance and the one most often stated loosely elsewhere. An inactivity clock that any qualifying activity resets is a mild inconvenience; a hard deadline that runs from the day the points land is a different kind of risk entirely, and it changes whether a speculative transfer into this program is defensible at all.
Policy above verified against the program’s own terms on . If it has changed since, tell us and we will log the correction.
Frequently asked questions
How much is one American Express Membership Rewards point worth?
1.8¢ in the Award Rate Q3 2026 model. That is the median, not the maximum — half of the redemptions behind it returned less. The published Award Rate figure for Membership Rewards, the median of 19,340 sampled redemptions. ANA, Flying Blue Promo Rewards and the near-constant 20–40% transfer bonuses lift it; Delta transfers and the 1¢ Pay With Points floor drag it back. The bonuses are modeled at the frequency they actually run, not at their headline size.Is American Express Membership Rewards better than Chase Ultimate Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One Miles and Citi ThankYou Points?
Not on value per point. American Express Membership Rewards is worth 1.8¢ against 1.78¢, the median of the other 4 bank currencies we value, and Chase Ultimate Rewards leads the category at 1.9¢. Per-point value is not the whole comparison — how fast a program earns, and whether it has properties or routes where you actually travel, can outweigh it — but it is the part that is comparable, and this is where it lands. Every currency we value, side by side.Which programs can I transfer American Express Membership Rewards to?
American Express Membership Rewards publishes 21 transfer partners. The ones worth using are ANA Mileage Club, Air Canada Aeroplan, Avianca LifeMiles; the full list, with ratios, transfer times and what one point is worth after each conversion, is in the table on this page.What is the biggest mistake people make with American Express Membership Rewards?
Transferring to Delta. It is the one partner that turns the best list in the market into a rebate. It is the failure mode we see most often, and in a program with dynamic pricing there is no chart to fall back on when it goes wrong.